Although Trump has been the frontrunner for the Republicans for some time, Carson recently surpassed him in the polls. Carson is now leading Trump by nine percentage points.

The Christian Post reports that the rest of the candidates are trailing far behind.

Carson responded to Trump’s remarks regarding his religious affiliation in an interview with FoxNews on Sunday: “I really refuse to really get into the mud pit. I really think that was a huge mistake in the last cycle and I’m certainly not going to get into that, no matter what anybody says.”

Carson has also said that he believes a relationship with God is more important than the particular denomination to which one belongs.

“I spend just as much time in non-Seventh-day Adventist churches because I’m not convinced that the denomination is the most important thing.”I think it’s the relationship with God that’s most important.”

Carson has also criticized Trump for being too arrogant and not giving God the credit, although he later apologized for those comments.